Black Online

At the top of the wall of the Starting City, Grimson Duke looked over to the distance.

In that moment, he saw something that made his brows furrow, and he immediately whistled with his fingers.

Whistle~!

"Come look!"

Grimson shouted.

Everyone ran over and came to see, and they all saw a small army of hackers standing by the treeline in the distance.

They weren’t crossing the field that separated the forest from the city. Instead, they just waited a distance away menacingly.

"They’ve left the tower area. It doesn’t look like they’re planning to go to the second floor. The plan is already ruined."

Grimson said.

"Not necessarily. They’re most likely waiting for a word from the hacker that is stationed here. I jammed the hacker’s communication, so they don’t know yet what to do."

Hermes said.

"We just need to wait for Leon to kill the hacker then."

Seonwoo Kim said.

"G-g-guys..."

A weak voice came from behind them. It sounded like a voice of an injured man. They all turned their heads around.

In an instant, their eyes broadened in a shock at the impossible sight before them that they didn’t expect to see.

Seonwoo Kim looked so shellshocked as if she had just witnessed the death of her family and friends right before her eyes.

From the street below, James walked over with the usual grin on his face, and he was dragging a young man behind him.

Dragging from the hair.

Leon’s face was bloody. His once bright eyes now dull and lifeless. He was barely conscious.

Health was balancing on a thread, inching closer and closer to zero, and it was clear that he needed medical attention immediately.

"...Leon lost?"

Super Max whispered in a shock.

He’d heard all about Leon and how great of a fighter he was, and so, this came as a complete shock to him.

It came especially as a large shock to his audience, who was currently watching the ongoing stream.

They watched the fight.

Well, it was barely a "fight" as it was insanely one-sided, with Leon standing no chance against James!

"Switch!"

Hermes clapped his hands together, and he suddenly switched Leon’s place with a bag of potatoes found in the nearby wagon.

James was suddenly holding the bag of potatoes while the heavily injured Leon was lying on the wagon on top of other bags of potatoes.

"Cough... Wheeze..."

Leon struggled to breathe, and he then covered his eyes, closing them tightly as he tried to ignore the burning embarrassment.

This was the most humiliating moment of his life.

"It looks like we’ve been outplayed. Leon spilled the beans of your plan. I have to say, I am quite impressed."

James said.

’...He told everything?’

Hermes frowned and looked at Leon, who had lost all his fighting spirit and was just staring at the sky in shame.

The camera kept livestreaming it all.

James threatened to kill him if he stopped the stream and if he didn’t tell everything that he knew about the plan.

With no choice, as he didn’t want for his prized account to die, he told everything and also kept the stream on.

"There is just one flaw. We will not run away. This floor is ours, and with you all dead, so will be the tower."

James said with a smile.

’I miscalculated. I thought that the hackers would value their lives more, but no, they’d rather die than give up control of this floor.’

Fang Raon thought with a dark look.

"Contact everyone, Hermes."

Grimson said, and he then pulled out his beautiful axe that looked like it had been used very frequently.

"I already did."

Hermes said.

Over at the tower, the door slammed open, and with a roar of a battle, the players ran out, waving their weapons in the air.

Thump~! Thump~! Thump~!

They walked down the dirt road and then stopped as they found the hackers over at a distance.

The two armies exchanged a gaze.

"FOR BLACK ONLINE!"

A player raised his spear, roaring loudly, and everyone roared in response, so loudly that the ground shook beneath their feet.

They had an overwhelming number advantage. However, it did not matter. Each of the hackers was basically their very own army.

"Kill the bastards."

Hacker Dean said coldly.

Hackers smiled and activated every hack in their possession and attacked the player army with a fierce and relentless force.

"Tanks!"

Hundreds of Tanks shot forward with their mighty shields and clashed with the hackers with a deafening roar.

Among them, Anna thrust her sword forward, but a hacker swiftly pulled her head back, like a limbo dancer dodging under a bar.

The sword of Anna’s swooshed over the hacker.

"Hehe!"

Hacker Rissa slapped Anna’s sword away and then kicked her in the gut, sending her sliding across the ground.

However.

Anna just swallowed the cough and got back up and traded several hard sword blows with the female hacker.

"Rangers!"

The bows were pulled back, and then thousands of arrows shot through the air and came falling towards the army of hackers!

One of the hackers jumped towards the falling arrows with no fear in sight, and then he summoned his grimoire.

A massive grimoire appeared behind him. It was a grimoire that was around thirty meters tall, with pages as dark as the night sky and glowing symbols etched into its cover.

It was as if the grimoire belonged to a giant!

"Butterfly!"

He pushed his hand towards the arrows, and out of nowhere, the arrows vanished, and were replaced with harmless butterflies instead!

Then.

The hacker turned the butterflies around with his hands, making a sort of turning motion in the air, like conducting an invisible orchestra.

"Bullets!"

He snapped both of his hands.

The butterflies turned into deadly bullets.

And then, he pointed his hands, shaped like a pistol with his fingers, straight at the players below.

"Bang!"

The bullets whistled through the air and made swiss cheese out of the players below—countless players fell to the ground.

Yet.

There were many more players left. Some got hit but also survived.

"Fox God’s Great Hunt!"

In that moment, the hacker suddenly got struck by a spear, and was sent crashing into his own massive grimoire.

"ARGH!"

The hacker coughed blood and saw some kind of fox-human hybrid hovering in the air with a fluffy fox tail waving behind him.

"Fox God’s Killing Blade!"

Raizen drove the spear through the hacker’s heart, and the hacker’s body disintegrated into particles of light.

"...Shit!"

Hacker Dean reacted to one of them dying and grimaced, as it looked like the players didn’t send all of their strongest to the city after all.

’It doesn’t matter if we die. As long as the players die with us!’

Hacker Dean thought, and with a loud scream, he attacked the players’ ranks with all of his strength.

The battlefield turned bloody.

...

James stood in the middle of the street, his coat waving behind him like a cape, as it had gotten very windy suddenly.

"I defeated your strongest. I hope you all are not too discouraged now. I don’t want to fight against those who have given up already."

James said with a smile.

Swoosh~!

An arrow came for his head suddenly.

But he caught it effortlessly with his hand.

"Hmm?"

James looked over at Kerr.

"Shut your mouth already and let’s fight."

Kerr Gehram said coldly.

"Ah, you must be the murderer. This is one of the reasons why I despise the virtual reality games such as this one.

"It gives avenue to monsters like you to fulfill their sick desires with no consequences. Do your crime in the real world, and suffer the full wrath of the justice system.

"Like you’re supposed to."

James said angrily.

"Big words coming from a fellow criminal. Don’t you know that what you’re doing is illegal, buddy? That justice system you love so much wants to lock you up forever."

Kerr said mockingly.

"The history will remember me as a martyr. What I am doing will benefit generations to come. They don’t realize it yet, but virtual reality is the death of reality."

James said coldly.

"White Chains!"

From Hermes’ fingers, white chains shot out towards James, but he quickly retrieved his sword and cut through them like they were butter.

"But you’re right about one thing, Kerr. Let’s fight."

James said with a grin.

"Crimson Lumberjack!"

Grimson suddenly transformed into a five-meter hulking figure with muscles that threatened to swallow him whole.

His legacy—the Crimson Lumberjack—is one of the most infamous serial killers in the Tower of Black’s history.

"Queen Gigantess."

Seonwoo Kim pushed her fist against the ground, and she suddenly grew over twenty meters tall, towering over all the buildings.

She was both horrifying and also strangely beautiful in her immense power, as there was something awe-inspiring at some primal level about her overwhelming size.

"Wise Scholar."

Hermes also transformed. A magician’s robe was draped over him. Round glasses appeared on his nose. A pointy hat finished his look.

"Racecar Driver!"

Super Max transformed into something strange. A pair of wheels appeared where his feet used to be.

A yellow racing helmet materialized on his head, and his clothes were replaced by a yellow and white racing suit.

"Lightning God’s Son."

Lock’s hair started to glow with a bright silver light, and bolts of lightning became the strands of his hair.

His ears became pointed and elongated, resembling those of an elf, but shaped like a lightning bolt.

"Succubus."

Aria turned into a beautiful succubus, and her eyes turned from a soft brown to a fiery red. She was so beautiful that even her kisses could kill.

"Blood Wizard."

Rasmus whispered, and his flesh turned to that of a shade of crimson, and his wrists sliced open, but blood did not come out.

Instead, the blood was completely under his control.

The hair of his turned into blood. It looked and smelled disgusting.

"Prize Hunter."

Kerr’s getup turned to that of some hunter with a brown felt hat, hunting jacket, and tall leather boots.

And the crossbow in his hand turned into a hunting rifle—a weapon that hadn’t been seen in Black Online ever.

And lastly...

"Aurel the Dancer."

Fang Raon turned taller, and his hair grew in length. The face became more delicate and slightly more feminine even.

’"That’s more like it."

James said with a grin, and then he also started transforming, and the air around the city turned threatening.

The whole rat population in the sewers started to run away. They could feel something happening on the surface.

Something that would even threaten them.